Oct. 30, 2013 - 12:59PM
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BAGHDAD — Shooting and bombings, including two separate overnight suicide attacks targeting Iraqi government forces and an allied militia, killed at least 24 people, officials said on Wednesday.

The deadliest of the attacks took place late Tuesday in the town of Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad. Two suicide bombers detonated their explosives-laden belts among a group of soldiers and Sahwa militiamen gathered in the orchard of a local Sahwa leader, killing 12, a police officer said.

To maximize casualties, the suicide bombers blew themselves up in sequence: the first detonating among the group and the second at the gate of the compound as people tried to flee, the officer said. The dead included nine soldiers, one a brigade commander, and three militiamen, while 23 were wounded, he said.

A former insurgent stronghold, Tarmiya is located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Baghdad.

The Sahwa movement, also known as the Awakening Council, was formed by U.S. forces in 2007 to help fight the insurgents during the height of Iraqi war. Ever since, it has been a target for Sunni hard-liners who consider them traitors.

In a village outside the northern city of Mosul, a suicide bomber rammed his car into a checkpoint leading to a police station late Tuesday, killing three police officers and four civilians, another police officer said. When an ambulance rushed to the scene, gunmen opened fire on its crew, killing one and wounding three, he said. Mosul is located about 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

In Wednesday's violence, a bomb exploded near an outdoor market in the afternoon in Baghdad's western suburbs of Abu Ghraib, killing three shoppers and wounding nine, officials said.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures for the attacks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to media.

Violence has spiked in Iraq since April, with the pace of killing reaching levels unseen since 2008. Tuesday's attacks bring the death across the country so far this this month to 595, according to an Associated Press count.